My wee one is nipping and now biting me so my / our breast-feeding journey is now winding down. Which is sad as she still kinda wants to feed ( more for comfort than nutrients) and I still want to feed her , I love the bonding quiet moments in the day. But I don't love becoming a chew toy and with my solution of nipple shields , I have become one, big time. She is getting eye teeth and its sore and parts of me is just the right texture and hardness especially with a plastic nipple to alleviate that ache on. So it is with great sadness and tenderness! That we close this chapter.
So now what, during the day wee one is fine, she is getting what she needs from her food and there is always a drink available. ( as said in a previous blog , invested in a couple of non spill cups that are alway at her height so she can always get a drink see pic below ) but we were having a moment at 6.30 am where she would wake, feed and then go back to sleep. With no boob, am I now up at that time, I hope not. So I have to practise what I preach ( ed ) as a nanny , when mums asked what to do I said, give them water. This also goes for bottle fed babies that are waking in the night and don't really need a bottle just need to link their sleep cycles. A small bottle of water and after a few days they figure not worth waking for.
Plus I feel getting more water in to her diet is never a bad thing. We are made up of 80% water or something like that. And I do always worry that she isn't getting enough as I am always parched. It is a weird symbiotic link for me that the minute she latches on I am dehydrated instantly. I always have to have pint glass near me and Im drinking about 6 a day. It's a good habit I know , but I do watch what she drinks and how much, I guess it is from the mystery of breastfeeding and not knowing what they are actually getting. It's not like there are ounce marks on your breasts. Hence the always having a drink available to her as she can't ask at the moment.
With her ever increasing diet on solids, I am also aware to give her lots of water to help lubricate her bowels. Some foods are harder to pass and she strains a bit till she gets used to the new fibres , etc. I have starting noting what gums her up and what makes her go and pairing them together. For instance she loves a banana but finds it harder to pass so kiwi seems to even up the process. As I found out kiwi without anything else is instantly bowel evacuation of the runny kind. I touched on the P fruits and veg that seem to have a direct effect for little tummies in Solids a while back. It is a bit of trial and error on finding balance in every aspect of their diet, what goes with what , whats healthy , what they will actually eat ! But water seems to go with it all luckily.
I have also found harking back to nannying days that with the warmer months coming we will all be thirsty more and for them to get in to the habit of drinking water and seeing you drink water is never a bad thing. There are so many sweet drinks and alternatives on the market that even aimed at children are full of sugar , I mean surprisingly full of sugars !!! The only good alternative is milk and fruit juice from the fruit. ( when I stream her pears and apples for puree for her natural yoghurt in the mornings , I keep the juice. I definitely know there is nothing but natural sugar in there ! ) I find giving the juice of these when she is particularly backed up helps !!
When they are a wee bit older I invest in a reusable drink bottle that doesn't spill for them and we all have one, its always full and we try to take it everywhere so a drink of water is on offer. If we can install these drinking habit in them early, it will set them up for a lifetime of good health and hopefully making good choices. Plus it puts us back on the right path . I have found that I have to eat better and drink more as she is copying me at our table. ( I do baby led , so she eats what we do. ) I have to have lots of vegetables and good home cooked dishes so she will be set up for her life and it makes me better.
I will let you know how the early mornings go with a bottle of water instead. And try to see the good side of not breast feeding any one, and not being a chew toy. I guess cheers to that at least !!!
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